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Delta

The 2017 cookie season, which marks the 100th year of the first known sale of cookies by Girl Scouts, is under way. To commemorate this banner year for the organization and celebrate how the cookie program powers amazing experiences for Girl Scouts year-round, the highly anticipated Girl Scout S'mores™ cookies are now available, joining classics like Thin Mints® and Trefoils®/Shortbread.

During a work session on Monday, the county commissioners received a heads up on three bills introduced into the General Assembly which, if adopted, would significantly cut revenues to county government.

All three of the bills are being opposed by the government trade group Colorado Counties, Inc., commissioners were told.

On Jan. 19, officers of the Delta Police Department in conjunction with officers from multiple other agencies to include the Delta County Sheriff's Office, the Montrose County Sheriff's Office and the Drug Enforcement Agency, completed a search warrant at the multi-residence property of 1345 and 1347 E. 3rd Street in the City of Delta.

Families Plus is hosting an Americorps VISTA, Kristi Hensley for one year of service. Henley comes to Families Plus with a background in finance and is currently the director of The ALA Colorado Girls State.

The fifth anniversary of the Western Colorado Food and Farm Forum saw record attendance with sessions at the Montrose County Fairgrounds and the Pavilion at near capacity levels Jan 20-21. With close to 275 people in attendance from Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, the conference brought organic and conventional producers of crops and livestock together for two days of learning and networking.

When you walk into any one of the five libraries in Delta County, you are sure to encounter librarians, busy with their daily work, and patrons, browsing the shelves or using computers. What you likely will not see is the very important work that goes on behind the scenes by countless library friends.

The Bureau of Land Management has announced appointments of members to its citizen-based Southwest Resource Advisory Council, which advises the agency on public land management issues in Colorado. The Southwest RAC is composed of members with diverse interests and backgrounds.

Senior CommUnity meals are served at four dining sites in Delta County -- Cedaredge Community Center (Monday-Thursday), Delta Community Center (Monday-Friday), Hotchkiss Senior Center (Monday-Thursday) and Paonia Senior Citizen Center (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). Meals on Wheels are also delivered from each location. More information is available by calling the Cedaredge meal site, 856-3636; the Delta meal site, 874-7662; Hotchkiss Senior Center, 872-3494; and Paonia Senior Citizen Center, 527-3435.

A front page article in a Jan. 19 edition of the Grand Junction Sentinel titled "Earth sets hottest record in 2016 for third consecutive time," indicates that climate change is occurring at a rapidly accelerating rate. Data separately compiled by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, National Air and Space Agency and England's Tyndall Center for Climate Research show that 2016 was the warmest year ever recorded on a global level.

Surface Creek Community Services wishes to thank the Town of Cedaredge for allowing us to use town facilities. We would not be able to help the many people we are providing food for here in the Surface Creek Valley without the town's help.

Congress just declared open season on federal lands, our national forests, national parks and BLM lands in their first move to attempt to sell off or transfer these lands to the states. They basically put a value on these lands of $0.

I was very disappointed to hear the county commissioners decline my request to add the county website to the official posting place for public notices. In a digital age where so many of us rely on cloud-based information, this seems to me to be a missed opportunity on the part of our county commissioners.

Delta High School swim team is finished with its regular schedule for the 2017 season. The Panthers have showed vast improvement through the season and will end the year with district competition this week.

When the three-point shots are falling with ease, points add up quickly. That's the situation the Paonia boys found themselves in Friday in a need-to-win match against visiting Vail Christian. Only it was their opponent calling the shots.

What's Happening

The annual meeting of the Hotchkiss-Crawford Historical Society will be held on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. in the Memorial Hall in Hotchkiss. The speaker will be Glade Hadden, archaeologist with the Montrose office of the BLM, on the Eagle Rock archaeological site west of Hotchkiss.

The Black Canyon Chapter of the Audubon Society is offering four field trips to look for raptors (eagles, hawks, owls and falcons) in the Montrose and North Fork areas. The trips will be limited to 12 people per day on a first come, first serve basis.

Paul Asaro brings his unique piano stylings, his stories and his songs to the stage at Delta Performing Arts Center, 822 Grand Avenue on Saturday, Feb. 18, under the sponsorship of the Delta-Montrose Community Concert Association. The curtain rises at 7:30 p.m.

The 7th annual Soil Health Conference will be held on Feb. 23 and 24 at the Delta Center for Performing Arts, 822 Grand Avenue in Delta. This conference is designed to educate producers, orchardists, ranchers, government officials and the broad community about ways to increase organic matter and increase the health of our soils by using cover crop, green manure, grazing, composting, entomology and other sustainable practices.

The Delta County Libraries offer many educational and entertaining activities and events for you and your family to enjoy. If you want to know what else your library is offering, please contact the library or visit the Delta County Libraries website at www.deltalibraries.org.

The speech and debate All-Congress meet was held Saturday at Paonia High School. Just as the 115th U.S. Congress is doing, about 35 students from North Fork, Grand Junction and Montrose area high schools wrote, introduced and debated bills on two House floors throughout the daylong event.

During the Jan. 26 meeting of Grand Mesa Post 9221 VFW and Auxiliary, awards were presented to students of Cedaredge Middle School for the Patriot Pen Essay contest and to students of Cedaredge High School for the Voice of Democracy Essay contest.

The Colorado Department of Education has released the official accreditation rating for Delta County Joint School District #50. Based on academic achievement and academic growth, school districts are placed in one of five categories:

On Jan. 17, 2017, Richard "Dick" Proctor completed his journey after a hard-fought battle with dementia, and walked onto the shores of the River of Life whole and complete, welcomed by the Great Water Master - God Himself.

A program designed to attract new businesses and stimulate economic development is being considered by the Paonia Board of Trustees. Under the resolution the town would provide tax relief programs for new businesses and new hires that locate into approved "Jump-Start" zones.

The Paonia Board of Trustees has agreed to move forward in supporting efforts to participate in the Colorado Space to Create initiative. STC is a state-driven collaborative designed to develop affordable housing and work spaces for a broad range of artists.

Sergeant Neil Ferguson with the Paonia Police Department recently released crime and enforcement statistics for 2016 and offered comparisons from 2015 statistics.

In 2016 the department answered a total of 1,056 calls, up from 974 calls in 2015. In 2016, officers issued just over 170 citations totaling almost $18,000 in fees and fines; in 2015, 89 citations resulted in $8,701.50 in fees and fines.

An international solar energy company, a regional newspaper with more than 30,000 subscribers and two companies operating under a synergistic business model were among those honored at the annual meeting of the Paonia Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 25.

Surface Creek

Cedaredge Community United Methodist Church celebrates 120 years of spreading the gospel in the Surface Creek area in February. The public is invited to attend the festivities during a two-day celebration.

Orchard City and Cedaredge have opted to participate in the state's Rural Jump Start economic stimulus program. But officials believe the pool of new businesses that will qualify for the tax incentives being offered is small.

We happen to live in an area that is quite favorable for growing many kinds of fruit trees. As a result, there are acres upon acres of commercial production of mainly apples and peaches, but also pears, apricots and cherries.